Free Transfer Frenzy: Arsenal’s Outgoing Transfers in 2020/21

As the football world descends further into the spiral of speculation that it falls down every transfer window I want to briefly rehash the outgoing transfers from last season. 

Six players left Arsenal in the 2020/21 season, of which five were free transfers. In a season where Arsenal announced 55 redundancies, the large number of free transfers is not necessarily heartening, as each free transfer indicates a missed opportunity at securing a transfer fee. On the other hand, the outgoing transfers helped Mikel Arteta cut down on his bloated squad. Most outgoing players had not seen much of the pitch before they left.

Emiliano Martinez

Emiliano Martinez was the only transfer during this period where Arsenal received a fee. Martinez left Arsenal in September 2020, the same season that saw him become Arsenal’s first choice goalkeeper following Leno’s ligament injury. Martinez did well when called upon, keeping 3 clean sheets and making 34 saves in his 9 appearances , but knew once Leno returned he would be back to the bench. A move to Aston Villa allowed him the game time that his performances likely earned.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos

Before he left, Sokratis Papastathopoulos went six months without playing a competitive league game for Arsenal. As he told football.london in this exclusive interview, he knew he would be left out of the squad but was forced to wait as he was unable to leave in the summer window. Even though he was not registered in Arsenal’s Premier League or Europa League squads for the season, he claimed not to harbour any ill will in the same interview. The exclusion of Sokratis was indicative of the need for Arteta to cut down the size of the Arsenal squad. 

Skhodran Mustafi

Apart from Sokratis, another centre-back Arteta found the need to let go of was Shkrodan Mustafi, a player who saw ups and downs in his form at Arsenal. Mustafi failed to make Arteta’s starting XI at all in the Premier League last season, though he was a regular starter when Wenger and Emery managed the team. Mustafi is a player I did not mind seeing leave. His form varied and, while he was the key to many of Arsenal’s victories in his time, I found him an unreliable player. Often he was the key to some of Arsenal’s most frustrating defeats as well as the star of many memes and harsh video compilations highlighting his mistakes like this one.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Henrikh Mkhitaryan opened up about his displeasure playing in the Premier League after he left Arsenal. His form during his Bundesliga stint far outstrips his form in the Premier League. Before his move to Arsenal, he played under Mourinho at Manchester United. While Mkhitaryan says he has resolved his issues with Mourinho after their reunion at Roma, they did not get along at Old Trafford. His discontentment in England, exacerbated by his lack of playing time, meant that ‘Mkhi’ was quite possibly the happiest to leave, despite his love for his teammates.

Matt Macey

Matt Macey’s departure from Arsenal is easy to explain. After a series of loan spells and very little time on the first team, it was natural for him to seek out other opportunities. Encouraged by Tierney’s accounts of Scotland and its football, he signed a contract with Hibernian FC. 

Mesut Özil

Much has been said about Mesut Ozil’s departure from Arsenal. It is incredibly difficult to pinpoint the exact reason Ozil left the way he did. A favourite of fans and his teammates alike, when Ozil signed for Arsenal, he was a vision of hope and a promise of the return of the good old days. But by the time he left it was clear that what he once offered to the team and what he could now offer had changed. In the 2013/14 season, Ozil’s first at Arsenal, he scored 5 goals and provided 9 assists in his 26 appearances. During 18 appearances in the 2019/20 season, he scored 1 goal and gave only 2 assists.

In 2016, in the initial stages of negotiating his new contract, Ozil increased his bargaining power with the aid of his fellow Arsenal teammate, Alexis Sanchez, with both players aiming to secure higher wages. While Sanchez decided to leave Arsenal, Ozil was convinced to stay on.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, players were encouraged to take a wage cut, which Ozil refused as he felt there was not enough transparency regarding job cuts and the intended use of the freed-up resources. His hesitance was not unfounded— barely moments after the confetti from the FA Cup win celebrations settled, Arsenal announced 55 redundancies.

When Ozil was frozen out, there were several games when one could argue that his presence would have turned the tides in Arsenal’s favour. However, deeper inspection brings to the foreground Ozil’s moodiness and his proclivity to vanish at key moments. He was criticised for ‘picking and choosing his games’ by Martin Keown in the later stages of his time at the Emirates. It was important for Mesut to take his leave but perhaps not in the way he did.

The exclusion of Mustafi and Sokratis may have stemmed from the excess of centre-backs in Arsenal’s squad, Ozil’s time at Arsenal may have come to a natural end, and Mkhitaryan may not have enjoyed playing in the Premier League. Yet somehow it irked me to see so many of Arsenal’s players leave through free transfers after being frozen out of the squad. 

Future Transfer Business

The pandemic has brought with it more financial difficulties, with matches first being not being played at all and then only being played behind closed doors. It’s made the tricky balance between scouting, bidding, and financial prudence even more difficult. While they have managed to repay it, Arsenal had to take out a loan from the Bank of England in 2020. The trend of freezing players out and then quietly letting go of them indicates two failures. 

First, that the club is letting go of opportunities to increase their funds for signing new talent.

Second, that the club isn’t particularly bothered with how they treat their outgoing players, regardless of their previous contributions to the club. 

Personally I feel that Arsenal needs to focus on their outgoing transfers before they can improve their incoming transfers. Many experienced Arsenal players such as Bellerin seem to be on their way out, and if Arsenal continue failing at negotiations, it could lead to a similar struggle in funding new signings.